On August 5, 1964, newspapers across America reported "renewed attacks" against American destroyers operating in Vietnamese waters, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin. The official story was that North Vietnamese torpedo boats launched an "unprovoked attack" on the USS Maddox while it was on "routine patrol".

The truth is that USS Maddox was involved in aggressive intelligence gathering in coordination with actual attacks by South Vietnam and the Laotian Air Force against targets in North Vietnam. The truth is also that there was no attack by torpedo boats against the USS Maddox. Captain John J. Herrick, the task force commander in the Gulf, cabled Washington DC that the report was the result of an "over-eager" sonar man who had picked up the sounds of his own ship's screws and panicked. But even with this knowledge that the report was false, Lyndon Johnson went on national TV that night to announce the commencement of air strikes against North Vietnam, "retaliation" for an attack that had never occurred.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Is history repeating itself in Korea? The North Koreans know how desperate Obama is for another war. Why would they stage such an obvious provocation over a relatively unimportant island? If North Korea really intended an attack they could have just as easily shelled Seoul to the east! But attacking an island opens up another possibility of a submarine mounting a WW2 vintage deck gun firing those shells onto the island. Fool me once...